This is an 8 week virtual programme for people caring for someone with dementia. You are also welcome to bring along the person with dementia that you are caring for.*
There are limited spaces available so do get in touch soon to book your place. We will be holding another in May and will add you to the waiting list if you do not get a place on this course.
The sessions are delivered by Don’t Tone Alone who have delivered sessions for us before, with great success.
The programme will be delivered via Zoom.
Our next sessions will begin on Monday 9 May, at 10.30am. Please express your interest below if your are interested in attending or would like to find out more.
*The sessions are suitable for people with mild to moderate dementia as they require a certain level of mobility and concentration. Do let us know if you’d like to talk to someone about whether the person you’re caring for will benefit from the sessions. You can also come along if you would prefer to.
Session1: Breathing: An Introduction to Mindfulness with Dementia
This session focuses on the importance of breathing and how to informally as well as formally meditate, using this at times of stress and tension as well as to simply check in with yourself during the day (e.g. when getting up in the morning, making a cup of tea, sitting in traffic, or just taking 5 minutes to sit quietly).
Session 2: Anchoring: Past, Present and Future
This session looks at positive memories of the past and uses the feelings they bring to cultivate similar feelings in the present, of safety, optimism, and happiness. We then teach attendees how to access these feelings through simple touch or smells that can calm us at times of anxiety.
Session 3: Enerchi: Mindful Movements to Create Positive Energy
This session focuses on posture, stance, and movement and how this can influence, behaviour, mood and being. The session reflects on concentrated easy-to-do activities introduced through the Enerchi exercise sessions that can be used to empower and uplift rather than exhaust. We look at acceptance of what we are feeling without judgement, and by simply acknowledging this, it helps us find order in any chaos.
Session 4: Remembering it all
This session recaps over all the principles covered in the previous 3 sessions and provides time for carers to practice and go through any 'sticking points with trainers. We work on a longer, more formal meditation, were carers lead their partners through a meditation rather than have everyone being led by a DTA instructor. This will hopefully consolidate what is learnt in the course and help carers to practice course content in their own lives.
Workshops are every other week - alternating between an Enerchi exercise session. Each session is scheduled to last 50 minutes. Two instructors will be present for each workshop and one for the Enerchi sessions. The entire course of workshops & Enerchi sessions will run over an 8-week period.
In between each of the workshop sessions is an Enerchi (mindful movements) exercise session which uses exercises from Tai Chi, Qigong & other meditative arts to re-energise body and mind. Having a fusion of styles means that the session is more inclusive and not technically driven. There is something for everyone and a fantastic opportunity to exercise & connect with ourselves 'in-the-moment'.